Metanoia | Chris Evans

5.3

Charlie places her phone down with a sigh, the fingers of her other hand still playing idly with Chris' hair as he lays with his head on her chest. They're lying on his bed in the cabin, the dogs lying on the floor nearby, Charlie having joined him in the room once he came back from walking the dogs, playing a movie in the background while they lounged on the bed together doing their own things on their phones.

The noise prompts Chris to lift his head, frowning at her in concern and curiosity. "You okay?"

She nods, nudging him to put his head down again which he does, but she knows he's still listening. "Just annoying friends."

He hums, shifting slightly to get comfortable again. "Hayley?"

She huffs in amusement. "That obvious?"

"You're always prickly after talking to her." He states deadpan before bursting into laughter when she swats at him. "I'm kidding - I saw her contact name when you were texting earlier."

"Did you now?" She pokes him while smiling. "Spying on me?"

He shakes his head against her, fiddling with the hem of her shirt absently since it's near his hand. "Just happened to see it when I looked over; I was just wondering what you were doing, nothing more than that."

"I know," She tugs on the strands under her hand gently, having gone back to playing with his hair, not wanting to actually hurt him. "I trust you."

He makes a happy noise in response, nuzzling against her before settling again. He's quiet for a while and she begins to wonder if he's fallen asleep but that thought is dashed when he breaks the almost silence again. "What did she have to say?"

She presses her head back against the pillow, biting her lip as he waits for an answer. "Are you going to share what you were talking about with your family that had you sulking like a child afterwards?"

He shrugs, "If it'd make you more comfortable then sure. Want me to go first or...?"

"No, it's fine," Charlie moves her free hand to trace patterns on his back, smiling when she feels him shiver. "She was talking about you, actually."

He makes a questioning noise in his throat so she continues.

"She thinks you're messing me with me like a little kid on the playground, metaphorically pulling my pigtails because you don't know how to tell me what you really want to say."

She's not worried when he doesn't respond since he didn't tense up or try to move away. He's processing it, taking in her words and all the things she didn't say. He doesn't immediately deny or reject what's been said like most guy's she knows would do, he's just taking it in.

"They were teasing me about you."

She makes a confused noise of her own even though she thinks she already knows what he's talking about.

"Scott, my sisters and my mom. They were teasing me about you."

"How does that even work?" She frowns. "What's there to tease about?"

She feels him squirm before he sits up and moves to sit cross-legged next to her, his face is turned away but she can see enough to say for definite that he's blushing. She sits herself up against the headboard of the bed, waiting him out.

"Fine." He sighs. "Carly started it. She brought up something embarrassing and Scott and Shanna went along with it. Mom didn't exactly make them stop either."

"Something embarrassing like...?"

He swivels his head to look at her through narrowed eyes, tipping his head back with a groan when he sees her biting her lip to hold back a smirk.